Bad ideas
by FireyFreedom
Summary: Alex does something stupid, which leads to him limping home barefoot... who should see him but Yassen. No longer a one shot Yassen/Alex Ideas of bad ideas welcome and needed!
1. Feet

"You're crazy Alex!" Tom yelled laughing as Alex ran by. Alex grinned to himself, this was probably going to hurt later, but right now it felt great. Reminded him that he was alive. What was he doing you ask? Running a mile barefoot on the abrasive surface of the track.

Alex had just recovered from the last insane mission from MI6 and instead of walking the mile like all the other boys, had decided to run it... barefoot. The feel of his feet hitting the pavement of the track was nice, it gave him a feeling of strength, and kept him from thinking about what he did for a living.

As soon as he finished Alex looked at his feet and winced. They were black and all of his toes had blisters on them Not to mention the balls of his feet. He counted a total of thirteen blisters covering his feet. Tom took one look and laughed. "Bet that hurts like a bitch." Alex growled at Tom and swatted at him. Tom skipped away taunting Alex to come and chase him. Which he knew full well that Alex couldn't do.

"Next time I do something like that slap me and remind me of how much I want to cut off my feet right now." Alex groaned to Tom, who hadn't stopped laughing at him yet. "I know mate I know," Tom muttered between laughs.

Alex sighed to himself as he limped along barefoot. After several tries, he'd given up on shoes, because those hurt his feet worse than going barefoot. And now he was walking part way home through a park. Jack was going to pick him up at the other end of it after her date. Alex really wanted to cut his feet off, surely that would make the pain go away. He realized that this was perhaps one of his stupider thoughts, but he chalked it up to pain. Alex rounded a curve in the path and nearly ran into none other than Yassen. Alex stared at the assassin wishing desperately that one of them could disappear. Or that adrenaline would kick in and make his feet stop hurting, because this was likely to end up in him running from the assassin.

Yassen hadn't really been following Alex, he'd just been curious as to what the boy had done since their last meeting. Then he'd noticed the boy was obviously limping, and had waited for him.

"You are limping," the assassin dead panned. Alex jumped; he'd been looking for escape routes. "Brilliant observation, give us another." Yes, pain made him very very stupid, Alex realized.

One did not bait or insult Yassen; one stayed very still and hoped he'd go away. Unless one was stupid with pain from blistered aching feet. Yassen was looking at him with those level eyes, which were annoyingly hard to read. "Why are you limping?" Alex gave Yassen a look that clearly asked 'why the hell do you want to know' which Yassen knew was a valid question.

"Are you going to try and kill me? Because if not, I would really like to get moving, my ride is waiting for me." Alex was so getting a psychiatrist to look at him if he survived this. He must have some as yet unknown suicidal tendencies. Yassen's eyes narrowed, before he shoved the teen back. Alex yelped and managed to land in something resembling a sitting position on a bench. "Ow! What the hell was that for?" he snapped at the assassin who was... kneeling in front of him? Yassen carefully picked up one of Alex's feet, examining the black blistered surface. "How exactly did you manage this?" Alex shivered at Yassen's cold tone.

"Err I ran barefoot on the track at school, which turned out to be not as smart as I thought." Yassen looked at him again, and if Alex looked closely, which he did, he could faintly see the 'you idiot' expression on the assassin's face.

Well that was new, the seeing expressions on Yassen's face thing. "You have a ride?" Yassen's question pulled Alex back from his thoughts, "Yeah, my housekeeper is picking me up at the edge of this park," Alex stood up, carefully moving away from the assassin and grabbing his book bag, "So if we're done here, I need to get going." Before Alex could register that he'd moved, Yassen had picked him up. Alex squawked in shock, which Yassen ignored and proceeded to walk away.

"What the fuck are you doing? Put me down!" "You cannot walk well or quickly as you are, you make an easy target for anyone bearing you a grudge after the Stormbreaker mission" Yassen explained, toneless as ever.

'Or any other mission" Alex muttered, unfortunately Yassen caught hit. He stopped dead. "You've been on other missions." Alex winced at the tone. "Not like it's any of your business but yeah." Was that anger he could see in Yassen's eyes? "Why?" Yassen was moving more slowly now, "Well it's not like I can say no. They're threatening to send Jack back to America." "Jack is your housekeeper?" Alex nodded slowly, wondering exactly when he'd entered into an alternate universe where Yassen asked questions and carried him, and he seemed to have no problem with this.

"What do you propose to do about this?" Alex shrugged, "There's not much I can do now, not until I'm 18, Ian left me as 6's ward, so until I'm 18 they have almost complete control." "And when you are 18?" 'Well then maybe Jack and I will move to America, or something, I'm not sure. This wasn't exactly what I had planned for my life." "what did you have planned?" Alex shrugged as best he could while being carried. "I dunno, I hadn't gotten around to thinking about it, maybe law, I definitely knew I didn't want to do banking like Ian" Alex grinned wryly at the irony of it all. 'Got roped into it anyway."

Yassen twitched his lips into a grimace. "I'm sorry." Alex gaped. "Okay… am I hallucinating?" He could see the minute twitch that was Yassen's smile. Okay, this whole seeing Yassen's emotions was messing with his head… and the heat. Yeah he could blame the heat and the pain on the weird twisting in his stomach.

Yassen carried him to the edge of the park, where Alex could see Jack's car. He was set down before Jack could see Yassen. "Try to be more careful." Alex nodded, painfully stuffing his feet into his shoes so as to keep Jack from realizing his idiocy. He walked away from Yassen, ignoring the urge to look back. He could still feel those cold blue eyes on him.


	2. Angst

Alex rested his head against the mirror in his bathroom, letting out a frustrated sigh. He'd gotten home without alerting Jack to the aching in his feet and stolen a safety pin out of the drawers. Washing his feet had been a contradictory experience. On one hand, the water felt amazing against his feet, but the blisters throbbed even more, and the black stuff from the track was ingrained into his foot. Due to his blisters he was unable, more like unwilling, to really scrub.

Now that he could really see them, his feet looked worse than he thought. He had fully thirteen blisters. Alex sanitized the safety pin with alcohol and went about the task of popping them.

Ten minutes later, satisfied that he'd drained all of the current blisters Alex leaned back against the mirror. The process was actually painless, and a little fun. Alex put antibiotic cream on them and band aid-ed them before hobbling back into his room and collapsing on his bed.

Yassen's eyes when he'd looked at Alex's feet kept flashing into his head. Alex sighed. It was bad enough that he'd obviously been stupid enough to be smart aleck to the assassin, but unless Alex had suffered from heat stroke and delusions, the assassin had carried him. Alex attempted to ignore the blush that came from that image. It was the heat. It had to be the heat.

_Someone's breath brushed his ear as a hand wrapped itself around Alex's aching member. He arched back into the man behind him, whimpering and breathing hard as he was ruthlessly teased. 'Please' he moaned trying to look behind him and see who it was that was doing these wondrous things to him. 'Now now Alex, be good, and it will all be over soon.' He knew that voice that was…_

Alex shot up in bed gasping. Oh hell no, he had not just dreamed about Yassen touching him! It wasn't right, it was wrong, and bad, and why the hell had it felt that good to be carried by the assassin? Alex groaned looking down at the insistent tent in the sheets. He tried to ignore it and go back to sleep, but his teenage hormones were having none of that. Finally, in the early hours of the morning, left with no other choice, Alex's hand slipped below the blankets.

Alex slammed his head against the shower tiles, watching as the white fluid swirled down the drain. In the week since his encounter with Yassen, all his teenage fantasies decided to center on the mysterious assassin. It was wrong on so many levels to be so attracted to Yassen. Yassen had killed his uncle for one thing. A small, less than helpful part of him voiced the argument that Yassen had also saved his life. One life did not, could not atone for another. Could it? What is a person's life worth? Alex picked his head up only to slam it down again. Thoughts like this weren't helping at all. Even if he could find a way to release the anger and pain of Ian Rider's death, even if he could allow himself to begin something with Yassen, and even if Yassen consented, it could never happen. They worked on two separate sides of the line.

Yassen was cold and ruthless, a killer for hire. Alex knew nothing about him but that, and the fact that he had killed his uncle. What was he attracted to exactly? The killer's body? Yassen was likely muscular, he'd have to be, considering the way he made a living. He was tall, with short blonde hair and cold blue eyes. Attractive physically, yes; but Alex had always thought he would want more than just a body. He'd thought he'd be better than all the teenagers who'd hook up with anything attractive. He'd thought he'd want a mind to go with the body. Someone to trust.


	3. Bad Side

Alex was playing football with his friends. It was a nice, normal activity, a break from the whole spying gig. MI 6 had given him a break until after the school year, or so they said. You just really couldn't tell with them. But Tom had invited him to play football with the guys, and since it wasn't even remotely related to spying, Alex had agreed without a second thought. Which was starting to look like a bad idea.

After the teams were picked, everyone had agreed on a challenge for the losing team. At least two players had to take a walk through the slums after dark. Alex realized that doing this would be monumentally stupid, all sorts of people who might recognize him were likely to be hanging around that part of London, he purposely didn't think about a certain assassin, but he was confident in his team winning the game. As any good spy could tell you, over confidence is often a fatal mistake.

Alex's team was doing pretty well when halfway through the game their goalie tripped blocking a goal and twisted his ankle. Alex called a time out. One look told him that the boy wouldn't be able to play. "What do we do Alex?" Tom asked. Alex sighed, he faced a dilemma, either he could pull one of the chasers in to play goalie, and play with one less chaser, or play without a goalie. Either way his team was down a player, and the opposite team was very very good. Alex sighed and made a choice. "We'll go without a goalie, I'll double as a chaser and goalie." His team nodded, trusting him to keep them from losing horribly.

Even playing right up to the edge where the boy meets the spy, Alex simply couldn't keep the ball out of the goal all the time, and score. In the end the other team won, but it was close, 34 to 30. The other boys smirked at Alex, "You and Tom get to go on a little walk tonight. We'll meet you at the corner of Central and Third (A/N. I have no idea if this even exists, if anyone knows where the slums in London begin please tell me) at 9 p.m." Alex nodded understanding, and fervently hoping that he got lucky.

At home Alex told Jack about the game and the dare. She looked a little concerned but all she said was "be careful". Alex smiled dully to his image in mirror. How fucked up was it that Jack was so used to him doing things so dangerous that walking in the slums wasn't anything to worry about. Now all he had to do was get himself and Tom through them hopefully without being shot at or otherwise detained.

Alex met Tom and the other boys at the corner at exactly 9 with the comfort of a switch blade knife in his pocket. He hoped he wouldn't need it, but where he was going, with his luck record, you never knew. Harry, the other teams captain smirked at him, "Alright Rider, let's see if you can make it, you have to go straight through here all the way to 9th Street. It should take you about an hour, we'll be waiting for you there, to make sure you and Tom actually do it." Alex nodded and grinned back, acting unconcerned for all he was worth.

He gave Tom a slightly more reassuring look as they turned to walk into the worst part of London. It was darker here; the street lamps were less well looked after. Tom instinctively moved closer to Alex, who had straightened. The best way to do this without causing to much of a stir was just to walk quickly straight through without talking to anyone. Two boys here alone at night were enough of a sight without them stopping to talk to anyone.

Tom was looking around them, trying not to gape at the whores who beckoned to them, or the drunks passed out on the street. They passed by a particularly well lit building and Tom stopped. Alex turned to look and see what had caught his companions notice. The building had glass fronts, and sitting in the windows were scantily clad women. Tom was openly drooling, "You could never afford them mate" Alex told Tom, nudging the other boy. Tom sighed, "Do you think with anything other than your brain, ever?" Alex studied the women who were, as the trade demanded, acting very enticingly. "They aren't Russian." He said before his brain caught up with his mouth. Tom whistled, "Know your type do you?" Alex cursed himself mentally, he'd been doing such a good job of not thinking about Yassen, and here he was comparing him to the whores in the window.

Alex turned away, "Whatever, the point is, we aren't here to play with them, we're here to get the hell out of here." Tom laughed, shooting a last longing look at the whores, one of whom winked at him, causing the teen to turn bright red. They walked away and tom leaned closer to Alex to whisper, "So did you get to do a Russian on one of your spy mission?" Alex choked. "Where the hell did that come from?"

Tom grinned, "You did! And you never told me how could you?" Alex shook his head so quickly he was afraid it was going to fall off. "No it's nothing like that; in fact the only Russians I've met on those missions have been trying to kill me." Tom looked disappointed. "Still, that would have been cool. So why did you want one of them to be Russian?" Alex shrugged, hoping they would get off the topic soon. "It seems to me, that with them all trying to kill you, you'd never want to sleep with one." Alex sighed, '"Then it's a good thing one of those women wasn't a Russian, now we never have to find out" Tom pouted, "You're such a spoil sport. Seen anyone you know?"

"Actually I've been trying to avoid finding someone I know, anyone I might recognize hanging around here would likely try to kill us, so can we not talk about this?" Alex asked, feeling crabby, mostly because now his thoughts kept showing him Yassen, and reminding him how it felt to be carried in those arms.

When they passed another brothel Tom stopped again. "Damn it Tom, can we please just get through this?" Tom was looking at one woman in particular, a brunette, "But they have to be less expensive, and I have some money on me." "You are going to get laughed out of the place." "I have a fake ID." Alex groaned, "If you feel the need to make an idiot out of yourself go on. I'll just wait out here."

Tom rolled his eyes but moved toward the building. Alex leaned against the entry to an alleyway trying desperately to keep his mind on his surroundings. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tom actually get into the building. Alex spared a thought to be impressed at that, but the assassin somehow wormed his way back into Alex's head. It was annoying and distracting, this inability to focus on anything without Yassen's name coming into it.

Distracted by these thoughts Alex noticed the group of men just moments before they came up to him. "Hey kid, you aren't from around here, are you?" Alex eyed the three men, two of them looked to be just regular toughs, but the middle one who spoke to him moved more like an experienced fighter. "Obviously not" Alex replied, the three men smirked, "Well how about we show you around?" "How about you don't." Alex smiled at them politely, tensing. "That wasn't a question sonny," one of the toughs growled. Alex raised an eye brow, a trait he'd learned from Yassen, who he immediately put from his mind. "Then you won't mind leaving."

"Listen here you stuck up brat, we are going to take you some where nice and comfy where we can have a private talk." The middle man, the one that moved like a fighter, snapped. "I'm afraid not, I'm waiting for a friend, and then we are leaving." Alex told him, eyes hardening. The leader smirked, "The lad that just went in there? He won't be out for a while; you've plenty of time to come with us." Alex shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere with you. Good evening to you gentlemen." With that Alex moved around the group and headed for another, slightly safer spot to wait for Tom.

He wasn't very surprised when one of the brawlers reached out to grab him just before he got there. Alex twisted, slamming his foot into the other man's chest. Before the second one could come after him a bullet hit the ground in front of Alex who looked over his shoulder to see where it came from.

Alex's eyes widened as he saw Yassen, casually leaning against the alleyway wall holding a gun and looking at the trio with his normal ice cold face. "Don't you have better things to do?" the assassin inquired, and the trio after looking again at his gun, decided that yes they did indeed have better things to do.

Alex looked at Yassen with a question in his eyes; mainly what the hell was he doing there. Yassen motioned for Alex to come closer, and the teenager did so, albeit with caution. "Relax, my business is not with you, but rather the leader of those men." Alex narrowed his eyes, "And who is that man?" "You are not here because of him?" Alex shook his head, "No I'm not here for MI 6 at all."

The minute shift in Yassen's eyes told Alex that the man was puzzled. "It's the outcome of losing a bet." Alex shook his head. "We were only supposed to walk straight through, but Tom just had to try to get into the brothel." Alex grumbled. "I see" Yassen's eyes were calling Alex an idiot again.

"So, are you going to tell me who the man is?" Yassen shook his head, "It doesn't concern you." Alex sneered, "Right, so why was he trying to get me off the street? If he just wanted my money he didn't need to try and get me to leave with him." Yassen glared at the teen who shrugged, "I'm just saying. Shouldn't you be going after him rather than chatting with me?"

"You are a magnet for trouble; I will stay here until your friend returns from his adventure." Alex tried desperately to ignore his emotions, and the naughty part of his brain that was supplying him with all sorts of things to do with the time. "Gee thanks, didn't know you cared."

Yassen's eyes narrowed at him, Alex just grinned. Why did he always get so suicidal around the man? Gregorovich could kill him easily, which, if Alex was honest with himself, was a huge turn on. Yassen had been in his gruesome business for longer than Alex had been alive.

"I take it your still haven't found a way to tell MI 6 no yet?" Alex shrugged, "They say they're going to give me a break until summer starts, but who knows if they actually will." Alex had been watching Yassen's face carefully, and that was the only reason he saw the slight tick of his jaw. He stepped closer to the assassin, "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?" he purred, still wondering where he got the balls. Yassen shook his head, "I do not keep tabs on you." "Coulda fooled me, but that's not the point. That guy, your target wanted something from me. And I think you know exactly what's going on. Whether you're keeping tabs on me or not." Yassen regarded Alex with his cold blue eyes. "At least you are good at your job." And then unbelievably, the assassin took a step back from Alex.

Yassen looked at the boy in front of him. This was John rider's son alright, and if the way he'd been studying Yassen was anything to go by, Alex was starting to read his facial expressions. Yassen cursed the Rider genes all the way to hell, preferably the deepest, darkest, coldest pit. Alex was entirely too perceptive, and yes Yassen admitted to himself, he had been keeping tabs on the boy. At least until the boy got out of MI 6 or reached majority (is that 18 in England as well?), whichever came first. He really wasn't interested in finding out why he was suddenly so protective of the boy.

Seeing that the discussion was over, Alex leaned back against the wall opposite Yassen and looked over, just in time to see Tom walk away with the three men. Alex was upright in a second, "Tom you bloody idiot" and he was off running after the group, with Yassen following behind him.

Alex wasn't sure why Yassen was following him, but when he saw that the leader of the men had come up with a gun somewhere he was very glad for the assassin's presence. Tom was backed up against the wall looking wide eyed at the gun pointed in his face. Alex heard the lead man growl, "Where's Alex Rider?" Before Alex announced his presence by punching his way into the little group. "What's wrong? Couldn't find me?"

When another gun was drawn Yassen's gun made itself known, felling a man. Some of the blood spattered Alex, who refused to flinch. Tom on the other hand looked sick. Both men moved away from Tom, spreading out to face Alex and Yassen. Some dim part of his brain told Alex that he had a freaking assassin at his back, and why the hell wasn't he doing something about that. But Alex knew that Yassen wasn't going to hurt him, at least not at this moment.

It took Alex and Yassen only a few minutes to subdue the lackey and his leader. Alex looked at Yassen from his place holding down the leader. "You'll take care of them?" Yassen nodded, tossing Alex a pair of handcuffs, which Alex pointedly ignored the perverted part of his mind, he cuffed the leader and got off him. Alex grabbed Tom's hand and forcibly dragged the shocked boy out of the alley and several blocks down the road before he stopped and turned to Tom. Alex watched him flinch at the two shots. "I'm sorry you had to see that. This is why I wanted to get out of here as fast as possible." Tom nodded. "Are you okay?" Tom nodded and then shook his head. "You live with that? You can live with that?" Alex nodded. Tom grabbed him by the collar and slammed him up against a wall.

"People just DIED. That man there just shot them!" Alex nodded, "Yes, but if he hadn't killed them, best case scenario we end up robbed and dead. Best case scenario." Tom stared at him. "You've changed. You used to believe that everyone deserves life." "I still do, or at least, I wish that I could still believe that. But, I know what those people are capable of, and I know that Gregorovich killed them painlessly. That's the best I could do." Tom slowly dropped Alex and then turned his back, hunching over. "Let's just go." Alex nodded.

The rest of the walk was completed in silence. Tom just nodded at the cheers of the boys. Harry congratulated the two. Alex nodded and smiled, and acted like he hadn't condemned two men to die. Pretended that his friendship with Tom hadn't been damaged, perhaps irreparably.


	4. Hotel?

The next day at school Tom still stood with Alex, and sat with Alex, and ate with Alex, but he was quiet. It was almost as if he was doing it to keep Alex from being anymore suspicious. Alex just gave his friend all the room he needed. He could still remember how hard it was to adjust to this kind of life.

But Tom was only a dim concern. Alex was more worried about who those men had been, and why they'd wanted him. He hadn't reported the incident to MI6, mainly because he was sure they were involved somehow, but Alex needed information.

So of course he decided on a course of action that was either brilliant, or very stupid. First Alex hacked into the airlines and found the passenger that he wanted. He quickly found him staying in room 137 in the Best Western nearest London Heathrow Airport.

Alex got home from school, smiling brightly at Jack. She grinned at him. It had been long enough since Alex's last mission that Jack had gone back to normal, no longer jumping at the ringing of the phone.

Just as Alex thought that, the phone rang.

"Alex, its Tom."

"Hello."

Alex wasn't sure why Tom would call him, he'd expected the other boy to continue avoiding him.

"Hey Alex, can I come over, I need to talk to you."

"Sure." Alex stared at the phone in worry, he'd expected the other boy to need time, a lot more time to come to terms with what had happened that night.

When the doorbell rang Tom greeted Jack and walked up to Alex's room. The door was open and Tom could see the other boy studying. Tom knew Alex knew he was there. And Alex knew Tom knew. But Tom had been the one to come over, so Alex left it up to Tom to say something or not.

Tom weighed his choices. He walked into the room and sat on Alex's bed.

"Who was that man?"

Alex slowly set his pencil down and turned to look at his friend. At least he hoped he was looking at a friend.

"It's complicated, but he killed Ian."

Tom nodded, storing that information. He'd already caught on to the whole professional killer thing; with that blonde it had been rather obvious.

"Why were those men after you?"

"I have no idea."

"You've killed people."

"I've had to. The world I step into is dirty. Filthy and I can't keep myself above it. Anyone who is dead won't pick up a gun and shoot you in the back."

"I was being unreasonable."

Alex sighed, eyes closing and for that moment he looked old. Old and tired. Tom frowned, he could almost see the lines around Alex's mouth and eyes.

"You weren't. I reacted much like that on my first mission. It's horrible and I wish I could forget it. I wish you'd never had to see it. I'm sorry." Alex paused. "I know you glorified what I do."

Tom shook his head. "You saved my life. You and that guy, thank you."

Alex shrugged, "We okay?"

"Yeah, we're okay."

And they were, Tom might still have to work through some emotional baggage from seeing his childish ideas shot to hell, but he was alright now.

Alex grinned to himself as Tom left. Now that he'd cleared up that crisis he could work on the, unfortunately, far more important one.

Alex said goodnight to Jack at 10 p.m. at 11 he snuck out his window and onto the street below. He was dressed in dark jeans, black button up shirt and a leather jacket. Dark enough for sneaking around, but not enough to raise suspicion.

Alex took the tube to his destination. He looked up at the Best Western wondering if he was really doing the smart thing. Probably not.

Alex stood outside room 137, it hadn't taken long to convince the nice girl at the front desk to give him a spare key card. Alex slipped noiselessly into the room. It was bare, just one black bag sitting in the middle of the floor. From the bathroom Alex could hear the shower going. He grinned, perfect. Alex stood himself in the deep shadows next to the window and waited. He made his mind shut off about what his prey could be doing in the shower. With him, to him.

Alex heard the water turn off, he kept himself still as one Yassen Gregorovich walked out into the room with nothing but a towel on. That was a site to distract him from his reason for being there. Yassen's chest had muscles, and his fair share of scars. Alex made himself watch Yassen's face, else he'd develop a rather large… problem. Yassen was totally unaware of anyone else being in the room. It was actually quite nice for Alex's ego.

The Russian turned his back to Alex and the boy moved. He'd already 'borrowed' one of Yassen's guns, which he used now, bringing it up to push lightly against the older man's neck.

"Enjoy your shower?" Alex made his voice deeper with a French accent.

The Russian was very very still.

"Who are you?"

Now it was fun playing with the assassin, but Alex would prefer to not be killed, so he stopped the act.

"Don't recognize me? Aww I'm hurt."

Yassen stiffened. He knew that voice. What was that boy doing here. Yassen closed his eyes, of course John Rider's son would show up now. The boy wasn't stupid, and if their little fun in London had been any pointer, he was getting to understand the assassin to well for Yassen's state of mind.

"Alex, why are you in my hotel room threatening me with a gun?"

"Because I like your guns, when they aren't killing my uncles" God Alex knew he was going to pay for this someday, like whenever he took the gun away from the assassin's neck.

Yassen stifled a laugh. "Interesting as that is, it doesn't answer why now of all times. Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"Probably, but I happen to want some information, and I don't trust MI6 to give it to me. Besides, you know more than they do anyway."

"Alex for once leave it be."

"Why?"

Yassen sighed, this was Helen's stubbornness he was sure. "It's dangerous."

Alex laughed. "Because what I'm doing this second isn't dangerous?"

"That's different?"

"How?"

"I'm not trying to rape you and kill you."

Alex stepped back, moving the gun away from the assassin's neck. "Well it's good to know about the killing thing, but I missed where rape came into play."

Yassen turned around, it was really quite amazing how easy the Russian was what with being dressed only in a towel, Alex mused.

"Those men were instructed to kidnap you and bring you to a man who has stated a desire to rape you and then kill you."

Alex was blinking rather like and owl, but his gun, well Yassen's gun, was trained on the older man unwaveringly. Yassen was actually proud of the younger male, it took serious training to take that kind of information and keep your gun trained on the dangerous factor.

"Alex, I'm not going to hurt you. You can take the gun away and sit down."

Alex blinked again before setting the gun down on the bedside table, still pointed at Yassen. Yassen nodded, and Alex vaguely noted the slight worried look to his face.

"Er, why does this man want me dead?" Alex pointedly ignored the rape part, he wasn't really ready to deal with that.

"I was rather hoping you'd know, since I had to tell you."

Alex glared at the assassin, "You haven't really told me much, if it was just the killing, actually there aren't that many people, but add in the... other thing and I have no idea."

Yassen did his glare that wasn't really any different from his normal glare. Alex huffed.

"I was never all that good at guessing games."

"Actually I suspect that you were rather good at them, else you wouldn't have been as good at this game as you are." Alex just nodded his head at the older man's words.

"SO, what happens know?"

Yassen frowned, "Now you go back home, forget about this, but stay on your guard."

Alex lifted one eyebrow, "Isn't that contradictory?" Nevertheless he stood, shaking his head to clear it. "Good night then, how long are you planning to stay?"

Yassen's mouth twitched, "Never you mind." He picked up the gun, "Take this. You can't have it at school but MI6 hasn't given you your own gun have they?"

Alex shook his head, taking the gun. "I am so pinning this on you if I get in trouble."

"Don't get caught then."

Alex rolled his eyes and exited the hotel room, leaving the key card on the front desk. He crawled back in his window and undressed silently. A look at his clock told him he only had a few hours before he had to go to school tomorrow. Alex sighed to himself. The whole spying gig really put a cramp in his style.

**OH MY! It's an update! I realize Chapter 3 still has a few errors, but I honestly don't have time to re-write it now. I also realize this is really short, I apologize. I'm running out of 'bad ideas' and it's looking like I'm going to have to send Alex on a mission. Please let me know what your thoughts on that are, and any ideas you may have! Thanks for your patience!**


	5. Complications

In all the drama, Alex had forgotten one other important variable, Sabina Pleasure. She'd been off on some exotic vacation, but she returned the day after Alex's jaunt to Yassen's hotel room. Tom grinned and nudged Alex when the girl walked into the classroom. Alex rolled his eyes back. Honestly, Alex might have held a small crush on Sabina, but that was before his – totally inexplicable- new attraction to Yassen. Looking at it even on a purely physical basis it made no sense.

Sabina was his age group, female and quite pretty. She liked him back, and she could give him a stable home, children, a nice normal dream. But Yassen was older than him, by a lot, male, okay, very attractive, but the assassin could never give him a stable home life, children were out of the question, and then there was the point of their totally opposing jobs. Alex sighed, why couldn't he just go back to dreaming about kissing Sabina, instead of his recent dreams which did not involve anything remotely like kissing.

Alex cursed as just the vague reference to his latest dream had him hardening behind his school desk. He smiled at Sabina, and then focused on the teacher. Alex hadn't had trouble with keeping up in school before Stormbreaker, but after, well those huge chunks of time away from school took their toll.

During lunch Sabina joined him and Tom at their table, while Tom eagerly filled her in about their 'adventure in Soho'. Alex noticed that Tom left out exactly what had ended up happening to those men. Tom understood the need to protect Sabina, just like Alex had tried to protect him.

Sabina oohed and got big round eyes, and Alex tried to make himself interested. But blue eyes kept super imposing themselves over Sabina's. Alex groaned in his head, but somehow ended up agreeing to go see a movie with Tom and Sabina that Saturday, assuming MI6, or the new weirdo, didn't decide to show up and swoop off with him.

The week passed easily. Alex managed to catch up on his school work; his dreams even gave him a break. Now they usually were forgotten by the time he woke up. Alex wasn't sure if he was grateful for that or not, but at least it kept him from thinking about Yassen incessantly.

Saturday Alex met up with Tom and Sabina outside the movie theatre, all too aware of the gun in its holster. Later Alex wouldn't remember what movie they'd watched, it had been much to fake for his tastes. But then, he'd been through most of those situations, the more believable ones.

Outside the trio walked towards a little café to get lunch. Their plans were dashed when a white van pulled up alongside them. Alex recognized danger first and tried to get them back, but before he could really react men poured out of the van and grabbed the three teenagers. Alex smelled chloroform, and then all was black.

Alex woke slowly. Remembering the kidnapping, he stayed still, listening for other people in the room. He could hear slow breathing, as if someone was sleeping.

"Alex. God please Alex wake up," that was Sabina and she sounded terrified.

Alex sat up slowly, ignoring Sabina's sigh of relief. She was sitting with her back against the wall, her arms tied awkwardly behind her, and her ankles tied. Alex was tied the same way, as was Tom, who was still out. The three were in a bare room. Concrete floor and ceiling, nothing to tell him where they were, but Alex was pretty sure he knew who had them.

"Alex, where are we?"

"I have no idea, how long have you been awake?"

Sabina attempted a shrug, "A few minutes, not very long."

Alex nodded, and nudged Tom, who groaned and woke up.

"This is not the café."

"Brilliant mate, any other observations you'd like to share?"

Tom glared at Alex, and then slowly seemed to get their situation.

"Please tell me this has nothing to do with Soho."

"Actually I'm pretty sure this has to do with Soho."

Tom groaned while Sabina looked confused.

"What happened in Soho?"

Alex looked at Tom and then shrugged. The movement reminded him that he still had Yassen's gun. Obviously they hadn't been searched. This meant two things: That these people knew MI6 didn't give him weapons, and they didn't know that Yassen was helping him. If you could call it helping.

Alex tuned back in to hear Tom re-telling Soho, only adding in part of the fight scene. He made it sound like the punks had run away; Alex was also relieved to hear that no mention was made of Yassen.

He smiled at Sabina in what he hoped was an 'I've totally got this under control way', and not 'I'm pretending I know what I'm doing' way.

Just then the door opened. The three teens looked over to it. Three more street punks walked in, followed by a short round little man. Alex mentally raised an eyebrow. Whoever creepy dude was, he certainly had plenty of street muscle.

"You are Alex Rider?" Round man asked looking at Alex.

"No, I'm Alexis Rider, Alex's twin sister." Alex pitched his voice higher than usual, just for added kicks.

The Round man's brows furrowed. "Alex Rider does not have a twin sister."

"Oh hell, then I've been lied to my entire life."

Tom and Sabina were rolling their eyes, but Round guy still didn't get it.

"Then who are you?"

"Some random kid you bastards picked up off the streets. I have no idea who Alex Rider is, and I don't care." Alex knew it was kinda sad, but this actually had a chance of working.

Round guy's brows furrowed more, and he walked back out of the room after motioning for the muscle heads to stay.

Alex and Tom looked at each other while Sabina eyes the guards like they were meat.

Round guy came back in looking rather red in the face. "Very funny Alex, your file said you like your jokes."

Alex shrugged, "What can I say, I just can't help myself."

Round guy nodded to one of the muscles, who grabbed Sabina and put a gun to her head. She shrieked.

"I trust you will be able to control yourself now?"

Alex felt his face harden into its mask, "Yeah, I can."

"Good, Mr. Rothman will want to see your temper, but for right now I want you to cooperate."

Rothman must be creepy guy who wants to rape him. Good to know.

"Why are they here?" Alex asked, jerking his head towards Tom and Sabina.

"TO make sure you behave. If you do anything I don't like, they take the consequences. And when Mr. Rothman is done with you, I'm sure we'll find some use to put them to." Round Guy smiled and it made Alex sick.

"So what's the plan?"

"You three will wait here, tomorrow we will be moving you to another safe house where Mr. Rothman will be waiting for you. If you're thinking about escaping, I wouldn't. We're isolated in the countryside here, you'd be lost for days."

With those last comforting words Round guy and the muscle gang left leaving a shivering Sabina, a shaken Tom, and Alex intent on escaping, before he was raped and killed.

"Do you know why this Rothman is so interested in you?" Tom asked, attempting to comfort Sabina, despite being bound.

Alex nodded, but didn't elaborate, he was searching for any detectable cameras. There were none, so he took a risk and beckoned Tom over.

"My left pocket, you'll find something useful."

Tom reached into the requested pocket and drew out Alex's switch blade. He smiled at Alex and silently cut first his bonds, then Sabina's. Alex was also freed. The three sat huddled together.

"All right, Tom you keep the switch. Look Sabina, I need you to promise me something. Promise me you will wait to break down, cry, go hysterical or whatever you need to do until I say it's safe. "

Sabina nodded wide eyed.

"Okay, I'm going to try and lure the muscle heads in here, Tom stand behind the door and make sure it doesn't lock behind them. "

"Are you going to kill them?" Sabina's voice was small.

Alex sighed, "Yes, I have to."

Sabina nodded. Tom drew in a shaky breath. Alex looked over at him, the other boy gave him a nod and a smile. Tom would have Alex's back. Now Alex just had to come up with a way to get the guards into the room.

The three stood up and moved to their respective positions. Alex smiled at Tom, then nodded to Sabina. She let go with an ear piercing scream and Tom banged on the door like a mad man shouting for help. Sure enough the muscled trio ran in. Alex had picked up a chunk of cement someone had thoughtfully left there and beamed the three over the head with it. The teenagers smiled at each other.

Alex motioned for the other two to follow him out into the hallway, letting the door swing shut behind them. They started down the hall, but didn't get very far before they heard gun shots. Sabina whitened, letting out a little whimper. Tom grabber her hand and squeezed it as Alex palmed his gun.

Running footsteps were heard and the three flattened against a wall. Alex gaped as none other than Yassen Gregorovich ran around the corner. He halted and stared at the three teens who gaped back at him.

"We really need to stop meeting up like this, people are going to talk" yup, Alex still went stupid whenever the assassin was around.

Yassen's lips twitched, "Are you three hurt?"

"No."

"Then I suggest we go."

Alex motioned for Sabina and Tom to follow and the teens followed Yassen. Alex quickened his pace to match the assassin's. "Any plans?"

"I have a car waiting if we can get out of here. Do you still have the gun I gave you?"

"Yes, thanks for that by the way."

"Thank me later" Yassen grunted shooting another muscled idiot who was running towards them.

Sabina whimpered again, but as the next one came around the corner, it was Alex who shot him. Yassen gave the younger man a nod.

"Alex Rider."

Alex groaned, it was Round dude. "Couldn't you have killed him first?"

Yassen's lips twitched again, before his eyes zeroed in on the man standing squarely in their path.

"Move"

Alex raised an eyebrow, was Yassen actually giving the man a chance to leave.

"You can't run forever, remember that Alex" Round guy moved out of the way, letting them leave.

Tom and Sabina collapsed in the back seat of the little black car, while Alex took the passenger side front. "Where to now?"

"I have a safe house a few miles from here, we'll figure out where to go from there."

Alex nodded and turned to Sabina, "Hang on for a little while longer, once we get to the house we'll be safe."

Sabina nodded and even managed a shaky smile. Alex turned to Tom, who was pale, but otherwise normal.

The safe house was an unassuming cottage still, smack in the middle of nowhere, though close enough to a town to not be commented upon. Just what Alex would have expected from the assassin.

The group all walked into the cottage where Alex smirked at Yassen, "I never took you for the rustic look."

Yassen gave his imitation of a glare and then moved off speaking over his shoulder, "I will get you all hot drinks, please stay in that room for a moment."

"That means he needs to check something we aren't allowed to see." Alex translated, but frowned at Sabina. "You can let go now, we're safe."

Sabina nodded sinking slowly down to the floor, shaking. Tom knelt down next to her, quickly followed by Alex. The two boys rubbed her back as the girl shook and sobbed silently. Alex looked at Tom over Sabina's back. Tom was still looking pretty okay, surprisingly he was adapting pretty well.

Sabina uncurled enough to wrap her arms tightly around Alex who rocked back a bit at the sudden weight. Sabina clung to him, and Alex shrugged and wrapped her tightly in his arms. He rocked back and forth, shushing that girl.

Sabina quieted slowly, nuzzling into Alex. Tom gave him a wry smile and an 'I told you so look'. Alex rolled his eyes, and secretly hoped that Sabina would just see this as comforting.

Sabina pulled back a bit and looked at Alex for a moment. Alex knew what was going to happen a second before it did. He made a conscious decision to let it happen, and hope nothing else came of it.

That was before Sabina kissed him. Alex relaxed, and waited for any off the much talked about hormones to react. Nothing. Kissing Sabina was like kissing the mirror. Alex pulled away when he couldn't stand it anymore. Sabina was looking better, Tom was smirking, but Alex felt a presence behind him. Dreading what he'd see, he turned around.

Yassen was looking at him, his face truly emotionless. Alex felt something drop out of him. Those eyes were ice cold, almost disapproving. Alex was sure that letting Sabina kiss him had been a monumentally bad idea.

**It's another update. Pretty close together even! Alright, my computer hates me, so I've missed responding to some reviews. I try to catch them all, but if I missed you I apologize, your reviews really do encourage me to write more. Thank you all!**


	6. Plan Maybe?

Silently Yassen passed out hot cocoa. Alex cleared his throat as he accepted his, "Thanks." A remark about the irony as an assassin handing out hot cocoa was on the tip of his tongue, but Alex bit it off. The assassin's face was stone, and Alex didn't want to risk hurting their truce any more than he had already.

When everyone was sipping their drinks and sitting on actual chairs Yassen walked out of the room again. Alex shot Tom a look and followed.

Yassen stopped in a room that had to be his bedroom. The only way to tell was the black bag the assassin had had in the hotel room and the bed.

"You should go back to them."

Alex shrugged, leaning against the door frame, "We need to figure out where to go from here."

"I take you home, that's the end."

"You let Round dude live, which means that Rothman will know you are helping me. Who is Rothman anyway?"

Yassen sighed, "There are two, twins. The boy is the one who wants you, and he's just a street man who happens to be backed by his sister."

"His sister is?"

"Julia Rothman is one of the directors for Scorpia, you've heard of them?"

Alex nodded, "They were going to blow up a pipe line in Armenia, I stopped them." A thought flashed across his mind, "You've done work for them?"

Yassen stared at him a moment, "Yes, I am a Scorpia operative."

"You just went against your organization. Now you really can't just drop me back in Chelsea and go back." Alex's head began to pound. Why the hell had Yassen decided to do this?

"What do you suggest then? We cannot stay here indefinitely."

"We need to get Tom and Sabina back home first, they aren't involved." Had Yassen's eyes gotten colder at the mention of Sabina?

"Then what?"

"I don't know, Rothman wants to rape and kill me, MI6 doesn't seem to care, and you are no doubt wanted by Scorpia now. Which means England is not a good place to be for either of us." Alex punched the wall and swore in pain.

Yassen was suddenly at his side, carefully moving his hand away from the wall and brushing a thumb over the red knuckles. Alex felt his breath hitch and he turned his eyes to look into the assassin's blue ones.

"Alex do you trust me?"

"Hmm?"

Yassen let go of Alex's hand and moved away, "Can you trust me?"

Alex considered, the fact that the Gregorovich was asking meant that one: he had a plan, and two: it wasn't something Alex was going to like. So did he trust Yassen? Yassen seemed to spend quite a lot of time protecting Alex, and had his back. On the other hand, he was a freakin' assassin, and he worked for a terrorist organization. But he'd betrayed that same terrorist organization, and given Alex a gun when MI6 wouldn't let him near one. Alex took a leap of faith, and hoped this wasn't yet another bad idea.

"Yes."

"Then I have a plan."

Alex was right; he did not like this plan. It was a horrid idea. It was brilliant. All he had to do was pull it off.

Alex walked back to the front room where Tom and Sabina were, leaving the assassin alone with his thoughts.

As soon as the door closed behind the Rider boy Yassen sat down on the bed. It was the only way, the only viable way. The two couldn't run forever, but this was… cruel, wrong, and Yassen was going to go through with it.

Lids closed over blue eyes as the international killer sighed; it would mean telling the boy some painful things. Things that were perhaps best left in the dark. Alex's smile passed before Yassen's closed eyes.

"Please let this be the right thing to do." The words were whispered, barely there, and eyes shot open, realizing what had just happened. Yassen had never been religious, but after his first hit he'd never once prayed. Decades without a prayer, and this teenager had slipped one past his lips. Yassen put a hand on his face.

This was ridiculous; Alex should get out of this one unscathed, get out of MI6, move to France, marry that teen girl in the other room and just forget this life.

Tom and Sabina looked up as Alex threw himself onto the couch. "We're going to stay here tonight and get back to Chelsea tomorrow; we'll drop you two off close enough to the tube you'll be okay."

"What about you?"

Alex grinned at Tom, "I have to go save my own ass this time."

"Improvement over saving the government's ass at least."

"What about that man, who is he?"

Alex turned to Sabina, "He was never here, you don't know him, you've never seen him." His eyes flicked to Tom, who nodded, "this is very important, don't go to the police, we need as big a head start as we can get, so please don't tell anyone anything. MI6 are no doubt going to knock down your door, but please don't mention him, okay?"

Sabina and Tom nodded, "If it's that important, what do we say happened?"

"We escaped, you two went into shock, understandably, but I got us out and we rented a car in the village we're going to drive through tomorrow, I dropped you off and told you I was going home."

Sabina frowned, "You aren't going to go home?"

Alex shook his head, "I can't tell you any more than that, okay?"

The two teens nodded and Alex stood, "Let's get settled down, it's been a long day."

Alex set Sabina up on the couch and Tom on the floor, then wandered back into the kitchen of the house. Yassen was in there with two cups of coffee.

"Here."

Alex nodded his thanks.

"You should get some sleep."

Alex sighed looking over at the assassin. "What about you?" Alex really didn't want to have one of his dreams with the object of them in the same house, and potentially two other teens in the same room. Too many options for embarrassment.

"I have a few thing to do to prep for our plan." Yassen didn't want to think about Alex sleeping in the same room as that girl, or sleeping at all for that matter. Asleep he was too un-wary, too tempting.

"Alright, I guess I should go bunk down with them." Alex turned to leave only to be stopped by a hand on his wrist.

"There is another bed room."

And Alex followed Gregorovich down the hall into a similarly bare room. "Enjoy such luxuries while you can, I cannot guarantee that they will always be there."

Alex nodded and Yassen walked to the door. There he turned around and paused for a moment. Then he was gone, and Alex stared in confusion.

Alex woke early the next morning, though Yassen was awake before him. After a brief conversation Yassen made him shower, before the two woke up Tom and Sabina, fed them sandwiches, and the group got back in the car and headed off to London.

The trip was silent as Yassen and Alex thought about the road ahead, Tom worried about Alex, and Sabina… well Sabina was still thinking about that kiss, and how to steal another one.

The car pulled up near a tube station and Tom and Sabina got out. From the car Alex waved to them and smiled. Sabina grinned at him, and Tom nodded, to worried to smile, but unwilling to get in the way of his friend.

Yassen pulled around, and the two headed back into the country. With two less people in the car Yassen's shoulders lost some tightness, there would be time enough to do the hard parts tomorrow.


	7. Not Suspicious PLan

"_Can you trust me?"_

"_Yes"_

"_Then I have a plan. We will go to Scorpia, you as a new recruit." Alex was right; he did not like this plan. It was a horrid idea. It was brilliant. All he had to do was pull it off._

_Yassen outlined the plan in more detail. They would drop Tom and Sabina back off to go back home, Alex and Yassen would go on the run for a few months. During that time Yassen would teach Alex some basics, and then they would go to Scorpia._

"_Won't they be upset with you?"_

_Yassen explained that if he told Scorpia that he'd been courting Alex to switch sides at the time, they would be so thrilled to get their hands on Alex, they would forgive him anything._

_Alex and Yassen would stay with Scorpia until Yassen took care of Mr. Rothman. Then Yassen would tip MI6 off, and Alex would be carted back to their loving embrace, where upon he would spin some story about being captured while fleeing from Round Guy._

When Yassen drove back to the safe house silently, thinking on the news he would have to tell Alex the next day. Not today, today was too soon. Alex would need today to learn what he needed to do. Tomorrow they would talk, and the day after they would move.

Alex leaned his head against the glass of the car window. He thought about the moment he'd agreed to Yassen's plan. It was probably a turning point in his life, probably a bad idea, and definitely the only legitimate way to get out of the current fiasco. At least Scorpia would give him some real skills.

Back at the safe house Yassen grilled Alex, asking about his skills in various areas, testing his language skills.

"I will teach you Russian. It's not widely spoken in Scorpia and will give us some privacy, though we will still have to be careful."

Alex nodded, taking Yassen's directions to heart. He'd need them to get through the next months alive.

The cross examination lasted through the day, and Alex was grateful to fall back to sleep.

Yassen stayed up later than the teen, haunted by what he was going to do to the boy. Yassen leaned his head against Alex's door, 'Forgive me John.'

When Alex walked into the kitchen at dawn the assassin was sitting at the table waiting for him.

"What's up?"

"I have some things to tell you, things you need to know to survive Scorpia, things you will not like to hear."

Alex sat slowly across from Yassen, "What is it?"  
"John Rider was a Scorpia agent."

Alex stared, wide eyed at Yassen, "What?" he hissed.

"Alex," Yassen tried to say something, but Alex was standing up.

"You're lying." He had to be lying, Alex's father couldn't have been part of Scorpia.

"I assure you I am not. John Rider was working for Scorpia, he was one of the best."

"How do you know?" Alex shot back at him, "How can you be sure we're talking about my father here?"

Yassen took a deep breath, "Because John Rider was my handler. He taught me most of what I know."

That stopped Alex in his tracks. The teenager sat down. "MI6 lied to me."

Yassen shrugged, "I do not know what happened with John after I was deemed ready to join Scorpia on my own."

"But, Ian," Alex trailed off, putting his head in his hands.

"I know this is hard to hear Alex, but you are John Rider's son, his only child, that is why, more than anything else Scorpia will want you."

"You knew my father?"

Yassen nodded, Alex had never met his father, never been loved by him, "He was the only father I ever had."

Alex nodded, meeting the other man's blue eyes. Yassen felt weight fall from his shoulders, Yassen had gotten the love Alex had never had a chance to. And now, he was going to guide Alex through the same maze Alex's father had guided him through. That was a bond, Alex recognized that.

"What do I need to do?"

"Everyone will be measuring you to John's standards, you will have to do better than any other trainee, better than most of the agents."

Alex sighed, "Like that's new."

Yassen nodded, "Maybe so, but you needed to know." He hesitated a minute, and then added, "I'm sorry."

Alex shook his head, "I needed to know. MI6 should have told me. Is that why you kept protecting me?"

"I don't know." Yassen hadn't intended to say that.

Alex's eyes shot to the assassin's face, read the surprise there, and Alex backed down. "At least someone can finally tell me about him; even if he wasn't the hero I thought he was."

Breakfast was silent after that.

"If you're finished, we need to start."

Alex followed Yassen into the assassin's bedroom where pieces of a .45 semi-automatic were laid across the bed. "Put it back together."

Alex did so, and the morning was spent on guns, their maintenance and assembly, not shooting, that would come when they had a range available.

Lunch was part food and part Russian lesson. Yassen simply spoke only Russian over lunch, leaving Alex to flounder, and learn.

After lunch Yassen dumped three books on Alex's lap. Picking them up Alex read the titles, 'A Study in Poisons' 'On Explosives' and another book on torture written by someone named Dr. Three.

"Why exactly do I need to read these?"

"Everyone in Scorpia has a specialty, mine is assassination, your will probably be information gathering, that's what you've done all this time, but it would be remiss of me not to introduce you to the basics of some of the other studies. Read those books, memorize them."

Alex frowned, "Torture?"

Yassen shrugged, "This isn't MI6."

"I kind of got that, thanks."

Yassen resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"What was my father's specialty? I'm assuming he was an assassin, since he taught you."

Yassen nodded, "John was one of those rare agents that specialized in more than one subject, he was an assassin, and a spy."

Alex nodded, "I guess it really does run in the blood. Won't people be expecting you to train another assassin?"

Yassen studied the boy in front of him. "Yes. Are you contemplating a career change?" At Alex's frown of distaste he continued, "I thought not. Scorpia will assign you to some other trainer to learn all their little tricks, but I'll still keep control of you."

Alex bit his lip, "Won't that make this all much harder?"

"Unless you think you can kill a person in cold blood it's all we have. Read." With that the assassin left suddenly.

Alex stared at the book on torture. What had he said wrong? Brows furrowed pensively Alex flipped to the front of the book to study the anatomical diagrams.

Yassen stared at his laptop blankly. Julia wanted a report on what the hell he was thinking, and she wanted it now. Unfortunately Yassen wasn't sure what he was doing himself, he just knew that the truth was not something she needed to know.

Alex wasn't ready to fake being an assassin, he still cared too much. His eyes still showed to much emotion. Damn him for having a good point. John Rider's son should be an assassin by rights, especially when trained by John's protégée.

Alex hated the book, and found himself strangely drawn into it at the same time. Torture was something he'd always hated, which made the ease with which he kept up with the book rather disturbing. When Yassen came to collect the teen for dinner he paused in the door way, observing the pensive brows, troubled eyes, and tongue that occasionally came out to lick the boys lips.

"_Alex dinner"_ Russian felt comfortable. Yassen quirked an eyebrow as he watched the boy store the new word in his mind.

Alex unfolded himself and spent dinner keeping his Spanish, German and French skills sharp. Yassen would pick a language to speak in, and Alex had to reply in the same. Yassen quizzed him on what he'd read, privately impressed by Alex's memory.

Alex on the other hand was worried by how easily he remembered. Sure he had a good memory, but not usually this good. The teen shrugged it off, he wasn't interested. After dinner Yassen cleared space in the living room area to teach Alex close quarters combat. Alex was pretty sure he hated Yassen.

He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, something he was glad of, in the last part of his mind not shut down by exhaustion.

_Alex drew in a sharp breath as hot water slicked over him, accentuating the pleasant friction of his hand moving over hard flesh. Alex leaned against the shower wall trying to stifle the noises tearing at his throat (why?). Suddenly a larger arm wrapped around his waist pulling him back against a stronger, clothed, larger body._

"_I thought I told you not to touch without my permission." _

_Alex shuddered at the smooth baritone vibrating against his back. "Sorry." His voice was weak and a chuckle was his response._

"_You've been bad again." A second hand traces a path down his chest. Alex arches into it, whimpering. "I should leave you like this."_

"_Please no"_

Alex wakes just before the hand he knows belongs to Yassen Gregorovich closes around him. A groan which is a mixture of frustration, and embarrassment slips from his lips. A glance at the clock on the table next to the beds tells him he's slept for all of six hours.

Torn between going back to sleep and finishing the torture book, might as well get the dam things over with right?, Alex debates. On one hand, if he sleeps it won't be for long, and he will almost certainly dream, and dreams have hated him for quite a while. Either he relives past missions, or fantasizes about what he can't have.

With a sigh the teenage spy picks up the torture book.

Yassen wakes up with a start at hearing a groan coming from the other bedroom. The assassin lays in bed quietly hearing the light click on. He doesn't want to think about that noise, doesn't want to know. Because nothing can change. He has to be Alex's handler, has to get them both through this alive.

Yassen comes for Alex a few hours later, forcing the teenager to go for a run with him. For an hour.

Coming back from the run Alex frowns suddenly, "I have no clothes."

Yassen nods, "You can wear some of mine, I'm going into town later today, no you can't come with me, I'll pick up some for you then."

Alex nods, grinning as the older man answers a question he hasn't asked.

Breakfast is in Russian, and Alex feels less like he's listening to pigs grunt. Yassen throws him some clothes and points at the shower. Alex sighs as the door closes behind him. Back when this little crush was still in its infancy, and Yassen only showed up once a month, if that, to pull his ass out of danger, it was easy to pretend that nothing was different. Now, there was no lying to himself.

The shower was wonderfully hot, and quick, because Alex wasn't ready to remember the dream or deal with the problem that arose from thinking about it.

Yassen starts making plans for getting out of England. Alex speaks Spanish German and French, so he will blend in any country, making the easiest way to get out a smugglers nest Yassen stumbled across years ago that will take them to Gibraltar.

Alex pads softly into the living room to see the assassin studying a map of Europe. Yassen turns to Alex and nods, "Continue reading, don't leave the house." And is gone without another word.

Alex eyes the laptop, debating whether he will live if he tries to look at it.

In an attempt to resist temptation he finishes the book on torture and moves onto the one on poisons. It works for about an hour, then despite his better judgment he is sitting down at the desk and opening the computer. Its password protected, of course, and Alex spends fifteen minutes attempting to guess the password. Unsurprisingly he fails. When he hears the front door open Alex springs up, closes the laptop and is back at his seat on the couch in seconds.

Yassen's sharp eyes take in the scene in front of him. Alex is sitting where he left the boy, quietly reading, but there's little drips of water around the computer where the boy's still wet hair left its mark.

Yassen sets the bags down slowly and prowls over to examine the desk, then turns to Alex, who is attempting to look innocent. "Did you manage to guess the password?"

Alex cringes and curses his curiosity for talking hi into yet another bad idea.

**I hate this chapter right now, it has nothing really going for it** **accept the revelation of the not at all suspicious plan.**


	8. The Uses of Bandages

_Yassen sets the bags down slowly and prowls over to examine the desk, then turns to Alex, who is attempting to look innocent. "Did you manage to guess the password?"_

_Alex cringes and curses his curiosity for talking him into yet another bad idea._

"No."

"You left water from your hair, be more careful next time."

Alex stared in shock at the older man, wasn't he supposed to be angry right now?

Yassen on the other hand was busy trying to figure out where he could get Alex some books on hacking. He wasn't upset with the boy, he hadn't told him not to touch the laptop, and honestly, he knew how curious Alex was.

"Go change, we'll be leaving in fifteen minutes, be ready."

Alex took the proffered bag and went back to his bedroom, still not sure whether he'd just gotten away with something or not. But he still committed Yassen's advice to memory.

The bag contained three black muscle shirts, a black jacket three pairs of black pants, socks, underwear and a pair of heavy duty black boots. Alex quickly changed into one of the outfits, surprised at how well it all fit, packed the remaining clothes and the books Yassen had given him in the bag provided.

The two left the safe house behind as Yassen explained his plan to get them to Venice all in one piece. Alex nodded, trying to keep up with the random Russian the assassin threw into the conversation. After that, the scenery passed by in silence while Alex read, ignoring the bile that rose in his throat when he read some of the more lurid descriptions of poisons.

They stopped in a little town, still in the middle of nowhere, but closer to the smuggler's nest; Yassen will make plans with them tonight. He checks them into the only hotel under the names Cossack and Jack. Alex's lips twitch at using his female housekeeper's name for this.

Yassen unlocked their second floor room, throwing his bag on the bed closest to the door. He looked at his watch, "We'll eat in an hour."

Alex nodded, setting his bag down on the other bed. "What's the plan for tomorrow?"

"We'll find out later tonight, for now rest, I'll wake you in an hour."

Rolling his eyes, honestly how old did Yassen think he was?, Alex toed off his shoes and lay down on top of the covers, "May I ask why?"

Yassen glared at the boy, "Because our next few days could have very little sleep in them and I need to do some things you shouldn't see."

'Jacking off?' Alex's teenage mind supplied, but he bit the comment off, he liked his head thank you very much.

Apparently his expression gave away the smartass comment in his head though, because Yassen gave him a look which said 'don't even' clear as day. Alex grinned cheekily at the older man, and obediently lay down, ostentatiously turning his back to the man.

Yassen woke Alex an hour later and the two walked to a little home-style restaurant near to the hotel. The food was good and the two passed a pleasant conversation, half in Russian, about John Rider.

When they left the restaurant, both noticed the two men that followed them. Alex let Yassen take the lead, walking into the back alleys of the little town, away from the hotel. The men followed and Yassen murmured out of the side of his mouth "Scorpia."

Alex nodded, heart thudding and mouth suddenly dry, how they'd found them could be figured out later, but really needed to be figured out soon, right now they needed to survive, and somehow turning around and saying 'hey we're on the same side' wasn't likely to work. Not that Alex was ready to pull that off anyway.

Yassen led them farther and farther into the maze of alleyways, "When I tell you to, run."

Alex nodded again, mind spinning, waiting for Yassen's signal. "Now" and the two sprinted off, Alex not expecting the bullet that ricocheted off the wall by his head. "Fuck." Yassen shot him a look that said he should have been expecting it. Alex ignored it and kept running.

Yassen pulled up to a stop as they suddenly found themselves facing a dead end. Alex cursed again, turning to face their pursuers and looking up the sides of the walls for a way up onto the roof. Yassen coolly pulled a gun.

They'd outpaced their pursuers, and Alex spotted a way onto the roof just as the two came around the corner. Yassen shot one even as Alex jumped up, grabbing the lowest windowsill. He refused to look down, rather kept moving upwards on the wall, sensing Yassen come up behind him.

He reached the roof in time for two things to happen almost simultaneously, Yassen crashed into him and a searing pain went across Alex's right arm. The bastard on the ground had hit him. Alex didn't stop, just kept running over the rooftops until they found themselves back in the main part of town.

Silently Yassen led Alex to a drug store and bought basic first aid supplies, including old style bandages, which made Alex giggle. Yassen just glared at him as they went back to the hotel.

Back in the hotel room, Alex stripped off the ripped coat and shirt assessing the damage. It was only a scrape, not very deep, on the back side of his upper arm. Looking up to ask for something, he noticed that Yassen was bleeding to, and suddenly the seeming clumsy crash on the rooftop made more sense. Yassen had knocked him out of the path and taken part of the bullet himself.

The Russian was currently also peeling off layers of clothes, and Alex's mouth went dryer at the sight of pale skin being revealed.

He coughed and reached for the antiseptic, ignoring how close his bare skin got to the older man's. From that angle he got a good look at the gun wound. It sloped down Yassen's shoulder and both realized one key fact at the same time: Yassen would not be able to dress it by himself.

Yassen closed his eyes once then sat on the bed, turning his back to Alex, clearly giving the boy permission. Alex swallowed thickly, and carefully poured the liquid onto a cotton pad, wiping it over the wound. Yassen bit his lip, and Alex paused, "I've never done this before, for someone else I mean."

Yassen sighed, "Don't worry about hurting me, here, let me."

Alex was pretty sure his heart stopped when Yassen twisted around and gently took his arm. Blue eyes met wide brown ones, and Yassen carefully took the antiseptic and pad from Alex, cleaning the scrape. Alex bit the inside of his cheek, it stung, but kept silent and watched.

After the assassin used three different cotton pads, and Alex was sure he was just being sadistic, the older man expertly wrapped the arm in the bandage, using the frog clip to keep it shut. The sigh Alex breathed when Yassen let go was a mixture of longing and relief. His heart hadn't stopped pounding, and now he was supposed to reciprocate?

Alex carefully placed one hand against Yassen's back and cleaned the scrape, trying to be gentle, despite a wish for pay back for the three cotton pads used on him. He managed to do a passable job of putting the bandage on the assassin. Alex lets out another sigh, reaching for his shirt, carefully not watching as the assassin gets dressed.

"Go to sleep, I will go talk to the smugglers."

Alex nods, "Be careful," the winces at how stupid it sounds.

Yassen nods, taking out the extra gun and putting it at the bedside table next to Alex. "Just in case."

And then Yassen is gone and Alex drifts into an uneasy sleep.

Something wakes him, he's not sure what. Brown eyes scan the darkness listening. There are footsteps coming down the hall. Not Yassen's, but to stealthy for anyone else who had any business being there. Alex tensed, silently reaching for the gun and slipping out of bed.

As he moved towards the door, his eye fell on the bandages, still laid out on Yassen's bed. The gun would be loud and draw attention to them. AN idea took place in his brain.

When the three men came bursting through the door, they did not expect to be clotheslined by bandages. Too bad for them, that's exactly what happened. The white bandages surged inward with their force, giving Alex time to get behind them and shut the door nice and quiet like.

Yassen ran back to the hotel, he'd been tipped off by the smugglers that there might be trouble at the hotel. He ran up the stairs and burst in the door, only to stop dead.

Alex appeared to be finishing tying off the last of three men in yards of white bandages. Nothing was out of place in the room, except the mummies, and Alex didn't look as badly beaten up as he probably should have. The gun lay where he'd put it on the bedside table.

Alex looked up and grinned at him, "The gun would have made too much noise, and this was almost fun."

Yassen shook his head, checking the bindings on the men, nodding when he found them secure, whatever the boy's first aid knowledge he was good with ropes, er bandages. "Wait here." Yassen took each man outside the hotel, don't ask how he got past security, no one knows, not even security, and dealt with them.

Alex was sitting on his bed when Yassen came back, looking at the assassin, gun in his lap, running his fingers up and down the barrel. They remained in those positions for a long moment, silent, accepting the fact that there had been another close shave. "Go to sleep." Yassen finally ordered, moving all the way into the room. Alex nodded, setting the gun back down on the bedside table.

"Good job."

Alex's eye's snapped back open. The words had been spoken into the darkness, but they had been real. A flush of pleasure moved throughout Alex's body and he smiled. It was one thing to hear those words from Blunt, Jack, or even his friends, but quite another to hear them from Yassen, who was so sparse with praise.

**Another chapter finally. I have no excuse for the time this one took, except my muse eloped with the new BBC series Sherlock. Oh, and I managed to use bandages in all kinds of new ways… yeah, anyway, hope you enjoyed, and sorry again! Thanks to all the reviewers! Ya'll make my day. Everyone else who stops by and puts this on alert and favorite, it's a bright point in my day for sure!**


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